Nanos 3′ UTR translation control element is a
cis-regulatory element in the
3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR) of the messenger RNA which encodes the Nanos
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
. The Nanos protein in ''Drosophila'' is required for correct
morphogenesis (anterior/posterior patterning) in the ''Drosophila'' embryo.
Translation
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
of the Nanos mRNA is repressed in the bulk
cytoplasm
In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. The ...
and activated in the posterior region. The translation control element (TCE) in the 3'UTR forms a Y-shaped
secondary structure
Protein secondary structure is the three dimensional conformational isomerism, form of ''local segments'' of proteins. The two most common Protein structure#Secondary structure, secondary structural elements are alpha helix, alpha helices and beta ...
, part of which is recognised by the
Smaug protein and leads to translational repression.
References
External links
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Cis-regulatory RNA elements
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